People Who Refused A Marriage Proposal Are Explaining What Actually Happened, And It's Soooooo Messy
Getting engaged is one of the most exciting chapters for a couple, but what about when it doesn't quite go your way? A Reddit user asked, "How many of you have refused marriage proposals and why did you do it? How did it happen?" Here are the stories that'll make you grateful you're still single:
1."I once accepted a proposal. The following day I developed an eye twitch. It continued for about a week. Then I broke off the engagement and the eye twitch went away!"
2."Where I work has an abundance of homeless people and transient individuals due to its proximity to the train tracks. About once a week this old homeless dude asks me to marry him. And for the last 12 months, he's been doing this. About two weeks after I shut him down, he responded, 'Will you ever say yes?' And I thoughtfully replied, 'Probably not.' I saw him last Wednesday and he didn't propose. I was sad because up to this point, it felt like a joking ritual each week. Now I worry that I broke his heart..."
3."My ex refused my proposal on the Eiffel Tower. That was the most embarrassing moment I can remember, and I once had to let my pants down in front of my class. When we moved to Brazil she suddenly wanted to marry as soon as possible. It turned out she cheated and the guy abandoned her, so she thought better me than nothing I guess."
4."One night while I was in college, an ex-boyfriend called me up drunk at 4 a.m. to propose. After unsuccessfully trying to end the conversation, I had to tell him, 'No, I won't marry you.' Instead of getting sad, he got extremely angry. I believe his words were, 'Fine. I don't want to marry you anyway. You're an ugly troll who should live under a bridge. No one is going to marry you.' Then he hung up. Needless to say, he was quite embarrassed when I called him the next day."
5."My first boyfriend proposed. I was 18, he was 28. We had only been dating for a month or so when he asked. I was surprised and said, 'Yes.' But after thinking about it for a few weeks, I told him I couldn't do it and we broke up. I just wasn't ready to get married, and we didn't know each other that well."
6."A friend of mine was rejected when he proposed to his girlfriend. She was pregnant with his kid and felt he was only proposing because of the baby, not their relationship."
7."I denied two because they were not genuine proposals. Two of my ex-boyfriends went into the military. I guess if you're married you get more money and that's why they both proposed. It was a smart decision on my part because one got kicked out for smoking weed and the other ended up marrying some other random he met on base within two weeks of meeting her."
8."I turned down one because I was 19, the guy was drunk, and we hadn't been dating that long. He said, 'I want to marry you and make you have, like, 10,000 of my babies. What do you think?' I thought we should break up. This worked on the girl after me, though. He married her after about a month and they only have 9,999 babies to go."
9."When I was around 16, an old drunkard came up to me in a grocery store and said, 'Marry me.' I smiled and walked away. It was a tough breakup, but I got through it eventually."
10."I was dating this girl a year ago. She was great, but I didn't feel she was the one I could grow old with. One day she had this whole thing planned, it was my birthday and she threw a surprise party. She also proposed to me at the end of it. Everyone went quiet. I took her hand, went into the bedroom, and told her no. She ran out crying, it was sad."
11."I found out my last boyfriend was going to propose. He dropped a lot of hints about it. I didn't feel right about it, so I broke up with him before he got the chance. I knew he was just insecure enough that he might do it in public to keep me from saying no, and I wasn't going to say yes. Best decision I ever made. We're both in better places because of it. He's happily married to someone else now, and I have the best boyfriend in the world."
12."I didn't refuse a marriage proposal, I broke it off a couple of months after I accepted. Of course, it was after our entire families knew, so it was more awkward. I just realized that it wasn't right, and unfortunately, it was on the Fourth of July. I stayed calm about it but he wasn't too happy."
13."My ex always assumed we would get married, move in together, and have children. He laid my life out for me and I wasn't cool with it."
14."Some guy I didn't know asked me to marry him on Skype in broken English. I politely declined and then blocked him."
15."It's better to say no if you're shocked or terrified of the thought. I have said yes before when I shouldn't have. Talk about it before it happens. I knew my husband was proposing because we talked about it. That made both of us so much more comfortable."
16."I was once asked for my hand in marriage by a random old man on the street with an owl. I refused because he was a random old man on the street with an owl."
17."We were dating for about three months. I guess he got the feeling I was going to break up with him so he got desperate and proposed. Thank god it was in the privacy of my bedroom. I didn't tell anyone about it. I said no, and broke up with him a week later. He was pretty overbearing."
18."An ex once proposed as a last resort to hold on to me when I was breaking up with him. I tried not to laugh, he seemed hurt enough. I did say something like, 'Seriously? I'm breaking up with you and you think proposing will make me stay?' He did."
19."A friend's mom intended to take the last name of whomever she married. A guy with the last name McLellen proposed to her, so she said no simply because she could never stand to be called Ellen McLellen. There were other reasons, that's just the joke she liked to tell us about it."
20."My mother has turned down multiple marriage proposals. She says she loved them, but she couldn't see herself marrying any of them. When she had dreams of her wedding day the man was still faceless, and she knew they weren't right. Her reaction when my father proposed to her randomly in a hotel bathroom was to run screaming down the hallway. He didn't know he was going to do it. He just looked at her and decided he wanted to be with her forever. Love is funny. They've been married for 26 years."
Have you or someone you know turned down a marriage proposal? Share your story in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
